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Hooters Air Expands Service By 4 Cities

Posted on: Saturday, 6 August 2005, 00:00 CDT

Aug. 6--CLEARWATER -- Tampa Bay travelers will get nonstop air service to northeast Pennsylvania and two outlying Chicago airports as Hooters Air expands routes at St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport in late October.

The expansion will provide a much-needed infusion of passengers to an airport that has lost two of its primary airlines since late last year.

Hooters Air said Friday it will fly twice weekly, beginning Oct. 28, between Pinellas County and Wilkes-Barre Scranton International Airport in Pennsylvania and Gary-Chicago International Airport in Indiana.

Twice-weekly flights begin Oct. 30 to Northwest Chicagoland International Airport at Rockford, Ill.

Hooters Air also will begin twice-weekly flights Oct. 28 between Pinellas and Rickenbacker International Airport at Columbus, Ohio.

Boston-Maine Airways, known as the Pan Am Clipper Connection, also flies to Rickenbacker from St. Petersburg-Clearwater.

Tampa International Airport offers flights to another airport at Ohio's capital city, Port Columbus International Airport, via Southwest Airlines and Delta Connection.

Hooters Air, which is owned by the international restaurant chain, flies six Boeing 737s and one Boeing 757. As a subsidiary of the privately owned Hooters Inc. -- no longer affiliated with its Clearwater founders -- Hooters Air started up in 2003 with amenities ranging from leather seats to Hooters girls serving as flight attendants.

"We do have resources available to us which provide room to do some things other people would not be able to do," Mark Peterson, president of the Myrtle Beach, S.C.-based airline, said Friday.

The airline's original St. Petersburg-Clearwater route, which began in May and takes off four times weekly to Lehigh Valley International Airport at Allentown, Pa., flies at capacity, said Noah Lagos, director of the local airport.

"This is a positive sign for growth at PIE," said Lagos, using the Pinellas airport's international designator code. "We think this expansion shows that PIE is a desirable destination for the traveling public who want to reach the Tampa Bay area."

Beyond expanding low-cost airline service to Tampa Bay residents, the local expansion by Hooters Air provides a boost to county-owned St. Petersburg-Clearwater, which lost 74 percent of its commercial airline service when two airlines stopped service there.

Largo-based Southeast Airlines folded Nov. 30, and Indianapolis-based ATA Airlines left in April after filing for bankruptcy protection last year.

St. Petersburg-Clearwater handled 444,654 passengers in the first seven months this year, compared with 882,024 through July 31, 2004. USA 3000 continues to serve seven cities from the Pinellas airport.

Boston-Maine Airways, which faces an ongoing U.S. Department of Transportation inquiry into financial filings by a former executive, serves two destinations from Pinellas. Hooters Air's new destinations from Pinellas provide alternatives for Chicago-area passengers who prefer not to fly from the city's two largest airports, O'Hare and Midway, which are in congested areas.

Southeast previously linked the Pinellas airport with Gary. The Wilkes-Barre Scranton route provides a link to territory just north of the Pocono Mountains, where an increasing number of New York-area employees are relocating to less expensive residential sites.

"We do not follow the beaten path," Peterson said. "We knew that when ATA pulled out of St. Petersburg-Clearwater, that opened up a lot of business.

"St. Petersburg-Clearwater is a very convenient, friendly airport, like operating in days past in terms of customer convenience and you cannot buy that everywhere."

Lagos said a billboard campaign to promote the expanded service is planned. The airport also is negotiating to pay for marketing the airline's new service.

Moreover, Pinellas may allow a six-month waiver of airport fees for Hooters Air.

To recruit service, smaller airports customarily have provided marketing incentives, or revenue guarantees, like a Sarasota Bradenton International agreement with AirTran Airways based on a federal grant.

Last month, giant Miami International Airport, which has struggled to attract low-cost carriers in the face of competition from nearby Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, waived fees to ATA in a trailblazing incentive program.

Tampa International does not offer airline incentives. Intense competition between low-cost and legacy carriers keeps fares low, and ridership continues to grow to record numbers. The most recent example benefiting Tampa is a price war between JetBlue Airways and Continental Airlines at Newark Liberty International Airport, where JetBlue will begin to challenge Continental at its key hub in October.

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Source: Tampa Tribune

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